Insect infestation of human habitats has been on the increase in recent years. One reason for this increase is the development of resistant insect species that are virtually immune to prevalent extermination methods. By way of example, the population of bed bugs, having been almost eradicated in the developed world in the 1940s, has slowly been recovering since then. Moreover, the recovery has accelerated since mid-1990s.
Bed bugs are also representative for synoptically illustrating behaviour and properties of the entire class of crawling insects. Accordingly, bed bugs are wingless insects with exoskeleton, the size and shape of the apple seed. They favour tight and dark spaces. Consequently, they prefer to hide in crevices and cracks in floor/walls and behind skirting-boards. They feed on blood, are active at night and bite any areas of exposed skin. A number of adverse health effects may occur due to bed bug bites, including skin rashes, allergic reactions and/or mental distress. Obviously, above-mentioned rise in population has contributed to increase in bed bug bites and related conditions.
Several methods of combating infestation in general, and that of bed bugs in particular, are known in the art.
One way to address said problem is to subject, for a determined period of time, the infested area to a temperature, either high or low, that is injurious to bed bugs. Accordingly, to kill adult bedbugs as well as laid eggs, said area needs to be heated above 45° C. for one hour or be kept below −18° C. for at least 48 hours.
One frequently used method for combating bed bugs is to spread diatomaceous earth (DE) in powder form on the floor and/or along or behind skirting-boards of the room. Once the bed bug comes into contact with DE, substantially needle-shaped, micrometer-sized pieces of DE penetrate the exoskeleton of the bed bug. This starts an irreversible dehydrating process in the bed bug eventually leading to its death. This method may be used in combating other insects having similar properties and behavioural patterns.
The above method is, however, ridden with considerable drawbacks. More specifically, spreading DE in powder form creates a hazardous working environment for the sanitation personnel and the inhabitants since prolonged exposure to air borne dust released by freely laid DE-powder increases risk of silicosis. Said release of dust is accelerated by movement of air in the room. To avoid damage to their respiratory organs, sanitation personnel wear protective equipment when applying the powder in infested rooms. In this context, children and pets are not allowed to be in the infested room while powder is being applied. Furthermore, it is unacceptable to apply DE-powder in bedrooms close to beds. However, if a room is infested, beds are very likely to harbour bed bugs. Moreover, the use of, for instance, vacuum cleaner in order to clean the floor sections adjacent to those where the powder is applied is significantly limited during treatment. In this context, a sanitation treatment of the above type lasts for approximately 5 weeks. Moreover, a desiccant such as DE-powder, when put in direct contact with the ambient air, rapidly absorbs humidity from the ambient air. The increased water content in the DE-powder, in turn, reduces its efficiency. In addition, as described above, bed bugs are attracted by tight and dark spaces. These favourable conditions are virtually impossible to achieve if DE-powder is freely laid on the floor. Also, removal and/or reorientation of the laid DE-powder become relatively complicated. Finally, if DE-powder is placed behind skirting-boards, the disinfestation process is prohibitively expensive, extremely time-consuming and complicated.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,676,985 discloses a rather complex system, preferably in wood or plastic, for monitoring and eradication of bed bugs and other similar pests. The system comprises an insecticide only partially enclosed by different parts of said system. This design feature severely limits its efficiency. More specifically, the insecticide at the interior of the device is accessible to bed bugs if said device is positioned on a vertical planar surface. Even then, a risk exists of bed bugs just traversing the system, i.e. entering and exiting the system via entry respectively exit points created by spacers, without getting in contact with the insecticide. If the system, on the other hand, is positioned on the horizontal planar surface such as a floor, the vertical distance between the floor and the insecticide kept at the interior of the device makes it impossible for the crawling, non-winged bed bug to get in contact with the insecticide. Consequently, the bed bug exits the system without ever getting in contact with the insecticide. Thus, inherent properties of the system make it non-suitable for horizontal positioning, i.e. positioning on the floor with the insecticide facing the floor. Thus, its use is, albeit with limited efficiency as shown above, basically limited to vertical positioning, i.e. attached to the wall and extending in the plane that is parallel with the plane of walls. This severely limits the versatility of the device, and consequently its usefulness. In the same context, system is not independent and must rely on interaction with other bodies/surfaces to operate properly.
One objective of the present invention is therefore to provide an improved system targeting insects such as bed bugs that eliminates at least some of the drawbacks associated with the current art.